HealthDay News — According to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, The Pregnancy Meeting, in Las Vegas, a weekend delivery for pregnant women could mean a slightly increased risk of complications.
Steven Clark, MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and colleagues reviewed outcomes from more than 45 million pregnancies in the United States between 2004 and 2014.
The researchers found a slightly increased maternal mortality ratio among mothers who delivered over the weekend — 21.4 per 100,000 deliveries, compared with 14.6 per 100,000 during the week.
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The team also found that weekend deliveries were linked to increased ratios of maternal blood transfusions and perineal lacerations.
In addition, neonatal intensive care unit admissions, neonatal seizures and antibiotic use all rose on weekends, compared with other times of the week.
Clark’s team also looked at July as a possible month when maternal and infant deaths might rise; however, the authors didn’t find an increase in infant or maternal deaths in July.
Reference
Study Finds an Association Between Day of Delivery and Maternal-Fetal Mortality [press release]: Las Vegas, NV: Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine; January 23, 2017.
